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Refilling the Rad's a Bitch

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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 03:06 PM
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Refilling the Rad's a Bitch

After installing a fmic I never figured refilling the coolant system would be such a hassle. After flinging coolant over the engine bay twice and numerous, pull over quick driving manuevers, I finally think I got it. Even though I followed the instructions in the owners manual to refilling the coolant, its still messed up. But running fine now. Anybody have advice on doing this in the future?
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 03:10 PM
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I've never had problems - fill the coolant up as much as you can, then pump the lower radiator hose with your hand to cycle the coolant a bit and burp some of the air out to the top. Get all the air out that you can, then start the car and run it at idle with the radiator cap off. Add coolant until it gets to where it's full, then close the cap and go drive it around for a bit. Check it the next day when the car is cold again and top off.

Dale
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 03:24 PM
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seems to easy. Thats exactly what I did
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 04:07 PM
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Pull the hose off at the top of the throttle body when filling.
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 04:44 PM
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i cant think of a coolant hose at the top of the tb.
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 05:06 PM
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The way it was explained to me was that the TB coolant hose is the highest part of the system and by pulling it you help release air from the engine.
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 05:15 PM
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I was told that was also the best place to burp the system with. Anyone else have any experiences with doing that? I've always done it from the upper radiator hose.
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Old Oct 6, 2003 | 07:22 PM
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I just recently re-installed my engine. When I was adding coolant, I removed the upper radiator hose( by passing the top filler neck) and added the coolant directly to the hose. I pulled the hose as high as it could go. This made sure that the radiator and hose was completely full. When it filled, I put the hose back on. Then I filled the top filler neck. When it filled I was sure that there was still lots of air pockets in the engine so I put my mouth over the filler neck and blew on it forcing the coolant down (no jokes on that one ok guys ) Every time I did this, the coolant would go down some more. I just kept repeating this process adding & blowing till it stoped going down. Lastly, I filled the expantion tank. After starting the engine and putting the temp control on hot and cranking the fan speed all the way up, when the engine warmed up, it never got hot. I went for a short drive and the temp stayed normal. After it cooled down, all I had to add was about a cup full more. Thats was it.
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Old Oct 7, 2003 | 04:53 PM
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couldnt it also make since to get the thermostat warmed up some and then pour in the coolant? By doing that is seems like you could fill it quicker with less "burping" the system. Also, could anybody post a pic of the TB hose you would release?
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Old Oct 7, 2003 | 05:16 PM
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You're still going to need to burp the system one way or another, and it's a lot easier on your hands with a cold coolant system.

Type "throttle body coolant line" into the search feature; I recall a photo in one of the threads.
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Old Oct 7, 2003 | 06:10 PM
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Here's a good thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...y+coolant+line
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Old Oct 7, 2003 | 06:34 PM
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For those of you who are scurred of blowing into the neck, just pick up a pressure tester pump from Kragen or any auto parts store.
But by far the best way would be to have the heater on full blast as you fill up the coolant/water system.
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